Textbook in English for Class XII
(Core Course)
Content
Prose
1. The Last Lesson- Alphonse Daudet
2. Lost Spring-Anees Jung
3. Deep Water- William Douglas
4. The Rattrap- Selma Lagerlof
5. Indigo-Louis Fischer
6. Poets and Pancakes-Asokamitran
7. The Interview- Christopher
8. Going Places- A.R. Barton
Poetry
1. My Mother at sixty Six- Kamala Das
2. An Elementary School
Class room in a slum
3. Keeping quiet- Pablo Neruda
4. A Thing of Beauty- John Keats
5. A Roadside Stand-Robert Frost
6. Aunt Jennifer's Tigers-Adrienne Rich
___________________________________________________________
Lesson no. 1
The Last Lesson- Alphonse Daudet
Vocabulary
The Franco-Prussian War:-
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War,[a] often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia
Fore more details visit:The Franco-Prussian War
hurried off: جلدی سے چلا جانا
apprentice: شاگرد
Bub: چھوٹا لڑکا
bustle:ہنگامہ / ہلچل
Unison: ہم آواز میں
Rap: تھپکی کی آواز
Commotion:ہنگامہ
Primer: ابتداءی رسالہ /کسی علم کی پہلی کتاب
Saar: Saar is a river in North Eastern France & Western Germany.
Cranky: بد مزاج
Reproach: a mild rebuke or criticism :ملامت
To come back to to come home
Understanding the text
1. The people in this story suddenly realize how precious their language is to them. What shows you this? Why does this happen?
Answer:
The notice on the bulletin stated that German would be taught in all schools instead of French. The whole village was unhappy about this order from Berlin. In school, the regular commotion was replaced with silence. Few villagers came to attend the class as a last tribute to Mr. Hamel for teaching their mother tongue and their repentance for not putting enough effort to learn it. Mr. Hamel also stated that we realize the importance of something when we lose it and similar was the case with their language, French.
2.Franz thinks, “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?” What could this mean? (There could be more than one answer.)
Answer:
Language carries the heritage and culture of the speaker. It connects an individual to their roots and culture. It’s not only a means of communication but binds people speaking the same language together. Franz points out the fact that the government can force them to learn their language forcibly at school but they can’t change the love that the people have for the language. They might learn the language in school but still won’t lose touch with their language and find every possible occasion to speak or sing in it. They can cage the spirit of the humans but the birds are free. They can’t capture them nor their will to communicate and love their language.
Talking about the text
1. “When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison.” Can you think of examples in history where a conquered people had their language taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?
Answer:
Some examples of the native language taken away from its people and/or imposition of the language of the conqueror are:
(a) Portuguese became the lingua franca of Angola.
(b) English imposed on the various Celtic peoples.
(c) Spanish imposed on the Basques and the Catalans.
(d) Turkish imposed on the Kurds.
2. What happens to a linguistic minority in a state? How do you think they can keep their language alive? For example: Punjabis in Bangalore Tamilians in Mumbai Kannadigas in Delhi Gujaratis in Kolkata
Answer:
A linguistics minority doesn’t have much liberty to propagate their language. They often have to learn the language of the majority of speakers so that they can blend and be accepted in society. Language becomes a barrier in communication because of this and blocks interaction. This makes universal language like English quite popular. The language represents the culture of an individual and must be respected and accepted. It allows an individual to be more authentic and keeps them alive and happy from within.
3. Is it possible to carry pride in one’s language too far? Do you know what ‘linguistic chauvinism’ means?
Answer:
Yes, it is surely possible to carry pride in one's language too far if one is fond of one's own language at the cost of others. Indifference towards other languages is not healthy for any democracy like India. When the sense of belonging to one's own language crosses the thin line between 'pride' and 'proud', it becomes linguistic chauvinism. If people feel good about their languages and traditions, they must have tolerance for other languages too. Everybody has the right to follow the religion as well as speak the language as per his/her desire. In fact, it is disparaging to distort the names of communities, for example, Bongs for Bengalis, Gujju for Gujaratis, etc.
Working with words
1. English is a language that contains words from many other languages. This inclusiveness is one of the reasons it is now a world language, For example:
petite – French
kindergarten – German
capital – Latin
democracy – Greek
bazaar – Hindi
Find out the origins of the following words.
tycoon
barbecue
zero
tulip
veranda
ski
logo
robot
trek
bandicoot
Answer:
tycoon - Japanese
tulip - French
logo – Greek
bandicoot - Telugu
barbecue - Spanish
veranda - Hindi
robot - Czech
zero - Italian
ski - Norwegian
trek – Dutch.
2. Notice the underlined words in these sentences and tick the option that best explains their meaning.
(a) “What a thunderclap these words were to me!” The words were (i) loud and clear. (ii) startling and unexpected. (iii) pleasant and welcome.
Ans: (ii) startling and unexpected.
(b) “When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison” It is as if they have the key to the prison as long as they
(i) do not lose their language.
(ii) are attached to their language.
(iii) quickly learn the conqueror’s language.
Ans: (ii) are attached to their language.
(c) Don’t go so fast, you will get to your school in plenty of time. You will get to your school (i) very late. (ii) too early. (iii) early enough.
Ans: (iii) early enough.
(d) I never saw him look so tall. M. Hamel (a) had grown physically taller (b) seemed very confident (c) stood on the chair
Ans: (b) seemed very confident.
Noticing form
Read this sentence
M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles. In the sentence above, the verb form “had said” in the first part is used to indicate an “earlier past”. The whole story is narrated in the past. M. Hamel’s “saying” happened earlier than the events in this story.
This form of the verb is called the past perfect.
Pick out five sentences from the story with this form of the verb and say why this form has been used.
Ans: In the following sentences, two activities of the past, occurring at two different points of time in the past, are indicated.
The one that happens earlier takes the “had”+ past form of the verb (V3), while the one that follows it takes the simple past form of the verb (V2).
Sentences in past perfect form (Reason/ Explanation)
(i) For the last two years all our bad news has come from there.
Reason: The 'coming' of bad news happened earlier than the bulletin in the story.
(ii) Hauser had brought an old primer.
Reason: The event of 'bringing' happened earlier than Franz noticed it.
(iii) That was what they had put up at the town hall!
Reason: The 'putting up' of the bulletin happened earlier. Now it is recalled.
(iv) they had not gone to school more.
Reason: The action of not going* happened much earlier.
(v) the hopvine that he had planted himself twined about the windows to the roof.
Reason: The 'planting' of hop vine happened earlier than its twining about the windows.
Writing
1. Write a notice for your school bulletin board. Your notice could be an announcement of a forthcoming event, or a requirement to be fulfilled, or a rule to be followed.
2. Write a paragraph of about 100 words arguing for or against having to study three languages at school.
Ans: For: Learning new languages at an early age helps a child to build up a more cosmopolitan view. The child is more accepting towards new cultures, people and excited to learn and know about them. It also provides sufficient international exposure to the child and would aid his communication if they plan to travel abroad. It also opens doors to new job opportunities for them.
Against: It burdens kids at an incredibly early age. If they live in a country where the language is not frequently spoken, they forget it after some time. Kids don't have a natural inclination towards learning languages and should be taught to kids who demand it. No clear use of learning so many languages if you are not going to use it.
3. Have you ever changed your opinion about someone or something that you had earlier liked or disliked? Narrate what led you to change your mind.
Ans: As a child, I was never fond of vegetables. I would always skip them in a meal and would throw tantrums if I was forced to eat them. In recent years I started consuming vegetables, especially green leafy and seasonal vegetables since my health wasn't in the best possible shape. But my opinion changed when I saw the effect it had on my body and overall health. My skin felt better and my body was healthier. I started happily eating vegetables after that to take better care of myself.
Things to do
1. Find out about the following (You may go to the internet, interview people, consult reference books or visit a library.)
(a) Linguistic human rights
Ans: The human and civil rights that concern the individual and collective right to choose are called linguistic human rights. These rights provide an individual to choose the language for communication, in public or private.
(b) Constitutional guarantees for linguistic minorities in India.
Ans: India is a secular and democratic country. Various articles in the Constitution help to support this. Article 350 A asks every state to provide primary education in mother tongue and special offers for linguistic minorities under Article 350 B
Prose-2.
Lost Spring-Anees Jung
Vocabulary
excerpt: اقتباس /a passage selected from a larger work.
Scrouge:ادھر ادھر ڈھونڈنا
amidst:کے درمیان میں / گھرا ہوا
Glibly: speaking or spoken carelessly and often insincerely / روانی کے ساتھ / سر پٹ
abound: کثرت سے ہونا
Bleak: offering little or no hope / تاریک
perpetual: داءمیط / مسلسل
desolation: ویرانی
Ragpickers: An unskilled person who picks up rags from trash cans and public dumps as a means of livelihood.
Periphery: دائرہ
Metaphorically: استعاراتی طور پر
Squatters: a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land.
Tarpaulin: Heavy-duty waterproof cloth, originally of tarred canvasProse-3.
Deep Water- William Douglas
Prose-4.
The Rattrap- Selma Lagerlof
Prose-5.
Indigo-Louis Fischer
Prose-6.
Poets and Pancakes-Asokamitran
Prose-7.
The Interview- Christopher
Prose-8.
Going Places- A.R. Barton
Poetry
Poetry-1.
My Mother at sixty Six- Kamala Das
Poetry-2.
An Elementary School
Class room in a slum
Poetry-3.
Keeping quiet- Pablo Neruda
Poetry-4.
A Thing of Beauty- John Keats
Poetry-5.
A Roadside Stand-Robert Frost
Poetry-6.
Aunt Jennifer's Tigers-Adrienne Rich
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